Hi °C | Lo °C Barcelona have arrived in London with a serious doubt over Thierry Henry.
The Frenchman injured a knee in last Saturday’s 6-2 demolition of Real Madrid and, although he travelled with the squad, he did not train yesterday.
Barcelona prodigy Bojan Krkic, 18, would be favourite to replace the former Arsenal striker in the front three alongside Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi.
Barcelona are already resigned to begin without their captain, Carles Puyol, who is suspended and defender Rafa Marquez, who is out injured for the season.
The last time Barcelona played in England, one year ago at Old Trafford, Gerard Pique was in the stands with the rest of the Manchester United reserves. Tomorrow night he will be marking Didier Drogba. Alex Ferguson allowed him to rejoin Barcelona in the summer for around £5million pounds unconvinced that he was ever going to be good enough to break up the Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic partnership.
But in an extraordinary first season Pique has been a key member of Barcelona’s charge towards the treble. He was majestic again last Saturday against Real Madrid. As a bonus, Pique scored the sixth goal from an impossible angle and in the reams of praise since written by the Spanish and Catalan press, has been dubbed Piquenbauer... not bad for a Fergie reject.
“There are no regrets about my time at Manchester,” he said. “It was there that they really turned me into a player. I had only ever lived with my parents in Barcelona. I had my friends from the school and the club. The change was very hard, but it was the making of me.”
